Europa Song Contest 1
Europa Song Contest 1, often referred to as ESC 1, was the debut edition of the Europa Song Contest. It was held in Sofia, Bulgaria as it was the host's country chose Arena Armeec while TBA was selected as the presenter. TBA countries participated in the first edition, all of them being debutants as it was the first edition. In order to participate, the countries had to be firstly approved to be members of the European Broadcasting Union. TBA was crowned as the winner of the edition with the song TBA performed by TBA. The song gathered a total of TBA points, TBA points ahead the runner-up, TBA. TBA finished on third place, while TBA, TBA and TBA completed the top 6 of the edition. Location For further information see Sofia Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. The city has a population of 1.26 million, while over 1.5 million people live in its functional urban area. The city is located at the foot of Vitosha Mountain in the western part of the country, within less than 50 kilometres (31 mi) drive from the Serbian border. Its location in the centre of the Balkan peninsula means that it is the midway between the Black Sea and the Adriatic Sea, whereas the Aegean Sea is the closest to it. Sofia has been an area of human habitation since at least 7000 BC.Being Bulgaria's primate city, Sofia is a hometown of many of the major local universities, cultural institutions and commercial companies.Sofia is one of the top 10 best places for start-up business in the world, especially in IT technologies.Sofia is Europe's most affordable capital to visit as of 2013. For the longest time the city possessed a Thracian name, derived from the tribe Serdi, who were either of Thracian, Celtic, or mixed Thracian-Celtic origin.The Serdi and the name of emperor Marcus Ulpius Traianus (53 – 117 AD) prompted the Romans to give the city the combinative name of Ulpia Serdica;Ulpia is derived from an Umbrian cognate of the Latin word lupus, meaning "wolf."It seems that the first written mention of Serdica was made during his reign and the last mention was in the 19th century in a Bulgarian text . During the Romans civitas Serdenisium was mentioned the "brightest city of the Serdi" in official inscriptions. The city was major throughout the past ever since Antiquity, when Roman emperor Constantine the Great referred to it as "my Rome", and it nearly became his capital. Format Semi-final allocation draw Unlike the previous editions, the semi-final allocation draw took place early. On 23 January, heads of the NBU hosted an event for the draw where the semi-finals were determined. The draw took place in the . The big 4 countries were first drawn to determine in which semi-final would each country vote.Greece, Russia and Scotland were drawn to vote in the first semi-final while France, Slovakia and Sweden were drawn to vote in the second semi-final. The rest twentty-nine countries were divided into eight pots, based on their geographical place. Each time a country was drawn from the pot, its semi-final and half of the semi-final was determined. The eight pots were the following: Participating countries Countries in the first semi-final Countries voting in the first semi-final Countries in the second semi-final Countries voting in the second semi-final}} Thirty-five countries participated in the first edition of the contest. The submissions for the first edition opened on 28th November 2016. Every country should choose their broadcaster for the contest. The contest started in November. As the rules say, if the country will select internally their entry, they should announced the artist at least one week before they reveal the song. Also Vatican City and San Marino were represented by an Italian singer and Faroe Islands was represented by a Danish singer.Andorra, Switzerland and Bosnia-Herzegovina show interest to debut in the first edition of the Europa Song Contest but they said that probably Andorra and Switzerland will debut in the second edition. Bosnia-Herzegovina first was debut in the first edition but on 9 December 2016 they announce that they will not debut in the first edition. But on 22 December 2016 Switzerland confirm their debut. Results Semi Finas 29 countries participated in the first semi-final.Greece, Russia and Slovakia also voted in this semi-final. The highlighted countries qualified for the final. Other Awards Web Award A poll was opened during the final of the edition with all the finalists. The public could vote for their favorite songs and there was no limit in choices. However, only one vote per user was allowed. The winner and the top 10 of the poll was presented before the final voting. Europa Awards The first ceremony was held for this edition. The ceremony took place in Thessaloniki, Greece, the host of the Contest. The nominees were revealed on 18 December 2016 and the voting started the 18 December 2016.The winners were revealed on TBA December 2016.Category:Editions